Former state prosecutor John Connelly dies

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Former Waterbury State's Attorney John Connelly, a tough-minded and sometimes controversial prosecutor who won death sentences against four of the 11 men on Connecticut's death row, has died. He was 63.

A spokesman for the chief state's attorneys' office said Connelly died Sunday in South Carolina, where he and his wife had been living after he resigned from office last year while fighting colon cancer.

At the end of Connelly's career, federal investigators were looking into his ties with Waterbury defense attorney Martin Minella.

Minella's attorney has said investigators were looking at trips the two men took together and whether Connelly gave favorable treatment to Minella. Connelly and Minella denied wrongdoing, and no charges were filed.

Connelly, a one-time state public safety commissioner, was well-respected in the law enforcement community.